Catalog
1 Crown - Elizabeth II Cecil Rhodes
| Issuer | Southern Rhodesia (1932-1955) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1953 |
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| Value | 1 Crown (1/4) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped effigy of Queen Elizabeth II facing right, modelled by Mary Gillick, her hair arranged in a braided coil with a laurel sprig above. The legend encircles the portrait within a beaded border, with the engraver's initials M.G. discreetly placed at the truncation. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | + QUEEN·ELIZABETH·THE·SECOND M.G. |
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| Additional information |
Issued to mark the centenary of Cecil Rhodes's birth, this crown appeared the same year Southern Rhodesia joined the short-lived Central African Federation alongside Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland — a political arrangement that would collapse within a decade under the weight of African nationalist opposition. Rhodes died in 1902 having never seen the territory named after him achieve even basic self-governance, yet the colonial administration was still invoking his name fifty years later as a legitimizing symbol.
The .500 fine silver content reflects postwar British Commonwealth minting economics, consistent with the reduced fineness adopted across sterling-area crowns from 1920 onward.